Rookie Report Card: Keelan Cole and Kendrick Bourne

Dan Meylor

Each week throughout the season, I’ll cover at least two rookies in the Rookie Report Card and try to always include the biggest performers from that particular week. On top of reviewing my expectations for each player coming into the league and covering how he’s performed at the NFL level to this point, I’ll actually give him a grade in three categories. Those categories are fantasy performance to date, rest of 2017 fantasy potential and long term fantasy upside.

The series continues with a look at a couple of relatively unknown wide recievers, Keelan Cole and Kendrick Bourne.

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Keelan Cole, WR JAX
Week 15 Stats: seven receptions, 186 yards, one touchdown (nine targets)

Cole was an absolute unknown to me until mid-season when I was flipping between games on a Sunday afternoon and happened to land on the Jaguars matchup with the Colts. As soon as a tuned in, I saw Cole streaking down the middle of the field behind the defense. He caught the 52-yard bomb and as happens from time to time during a season, I wrote his name down as a player to check into.

When I looked him up a few hours later, I didn’t find much outside of the normal biographical information and a few college highlights. He came out of tiny Kentucky Wesleyan, has decent size (6’-1”, 184 pounds), went undrafted but signed with the Jaguars, yada, yada, yada.

Then I watched a highlight of a 97-yard pre-season catch Cole made against the Patriots in the opening week of the preseason. Again, Cole got behind the defense and caught the ball over his shoulder. “Hmmmm,” I said to myself, “Maybe he’s a deep sleeper with deep speed.”

Cole was finally on my radar but wasn’t on any of my dynasty rosters until a handful of weeks later when after seeing make a catch or two each week for a few weeks straight, I checked back in with him and noticed he was catching about three passes a week and getting more and more playing time. I added him off the waiver wire in the few leagues he was still available and since then, he’s continued catching a few passes per week on my bench.

Until week 15.

On Sunday, Cole suddenly found himself playing a bigger role for the Jags when Marqise Lee went down with an ankle injury. Although most – myself included –likely figured Dede Westbook would step in as Blake Bortles’ top target, it was Cole that caught seven passes for 186 yards and a score on nine targets.

Cole was all over the field on Sunday. He caught a pair of passes on deep crossing routes that Bortles feathered perfectly over defenders and another where he shook the coverage with a savvy shoulder move to the outside before cutting to the middle, catching the ball at around mid-field and nearly taking it the distance before being tripped up at the one-yard line. That play in particular featured above average route running and very good run after the catch ability – highlighted by his excellent speed and very nice stiff arm. His nicest route came late in the second quarter at the Texans’ nine-yard line. Lined up in the right slot, he ran a beautiful post route, setting up his man-to-man defender with a jab step to the corner and quickly crossing his face before making the catch in the middle of the end zone.

Cole shined against the Texans defense and honestly, it shouldn’t shock dynasty owners, as his performance over the last handful of weeks have shown an ascending player. Hauling in a touchdown in three straight games and posting stat lines of three catches for 49 yards, three catches for 99 yards, and seven catches for 186 yards over that timeframe to go along with those three trips to pay dirt, he’s been a top-15 fantasy wide out over that stretch.

As far as Cole’s long term upside goes, there are far too many questions that need answered in Jacksonville – including if Allen Robinson will be back and healthy, if Allen Hurns will ever get back to the low-end WR2 form he once showed, and who will be throwing passes for the Jaguars – to really feel good about handicapping his future. My gut tells me however, that Cole is a good (not great) player with an excellent opportunity to play in a good offense with a quarterback that is locked in right now. In fact, I feel so good about the run he’s on, I’ll be starting him (for the first time ever) in one of my championship matchups as my WR3 where I’ve advanced despite the poor stat lines from Jordy Nelson, Amari Cooper and DeVante Parker along with others.

Although I’m not sold that Cole is the next great undrafted free agent to come out nowhere and light up fantasy scoreboards for years to come, I do believe he’s one of the rare rookies that have a higher short term potential than long term upside, and that he just may be the next unknown to help dynasty owners win a title.

At least I hope he is.

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Kendrick Bourne, WR SF
Week 15 Stats: four receptions, 85 yards (six targets)

Bourne isn’t usually the kind of rookie that would be featured in the Rookie Report Card, but late in the season, he’s exactly the kind of player I like to take a little closer look at.

In case you’ve never heard of Bourne, he was the “other” receiver that entered the draft out of Eastern Washington last off-season and although he was outshined by his college teammate, Cooper Kupp, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t ultra-productive – posting 211 catches for 3,130 yards and 27 touchdowns and being named all-conference three times in his four college seasons.

Featuring good size (6’-1”, 205 pounds), great hands and a physical playing style while in college, I thought early in the off-season that Bourne profiled as a possession receiver with some red-zone upside due to his ability to “outmuscle” a defender for a jump ball. Unfortunately however, he ran a very pedestrian 4.68 in the 40-yard dash, did just nine reps on the bench and managed a ho-hum 34-inch vertical at the combine.

Those mundane numbers as well as going undrafted made Bourne slip off my radar but he’s re-emerged over the last handful of weeks. In his last six games, Bourne has caught 13 passes for 217 yards for San Francisco. Week 15 brought his biggest game as he caught four passes for 85 yards.

Having seen each of his 13 catches so far as a rookie as well as his six catches from the pre-season, I can tell you that despite consistently displaying excellent hands, Bourne hasn’t done much to make me think he’s anything more than a fourth or fifth receiver on an NFL roster. His biggest play so far as a rookie came on Sunday against the Titans when he ran a post route out of the slot against zone coverage and Jimmy Garoppolo found him in a window between a pair of linebackers and in front of the safeties. Bourne caught the pass, turned up field and raced to a 54-yard gain. He caught the ball away from his body nicely and used long strides to make the big play, but was caught from behind easily on the play.

Although many may think Bourne might be worth one of the last roster spots in a deep league, his upside is clearly capped due to his lack of speed and inability to separate from quality cover men. Unless you’re in a league that rosters nearly every NFL receiver, there are better ways to use your final roster spots.

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dan meylor